The Ultimate Guide to the Conference Finals of the 2016 NHL Playoffs

As conference calls go, these are tough. The St. Louis Blues seem like a team with some kind of providential influence pulling them along, moving into the Western Conference Final with two Game 7 victories in hand.

Since entering the league in 1967, the Blues have yet to win a Stanley Cup. They haven't even played in a Cup final since Richard Nixon was president in 1970.

And yet, the San Jose Sharks seem like destiny's darling, too. These teams have made the playoffs in most every season since the late 1990s, but neither has made it to a Cup final.

One of them will make it, and it will seem surreal perhaps to their long-suffering fans. For the team that doesn't make it, the heartbreak will be worse than ever. 

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In the East, it's a tough call as well. The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals in the second round and have been red-hot since Mike Sullivan replaced Mike Johnston as head coach on Dec. 12.

Pittsburgh is 41-19-5 under Sullivan entering this series against Jon Cooper and the Lightning.

The Lightning have their own story of inspiration. They lost Steven Stamkos and Anton Stralman late in the regular season, prompting pundits (hand raised) to discount any chance of Tampa Bay making it out of the first round. And here it is.

Ben Bishop, Jonathan Drouin's return, Victor Hedman's leadership—it has all added up to a return trip to the conference final. The Bolts are the only team still standing that can boast as much.

The rest of this column is a discussion of some of the bigger storylines and an attempt at predicting how they will be resolved. If there are some storylines we missed, or anything else is on your mind, please let us know in the comments section.

Who has more momentum right now: Penguins or Lightning? 

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You have to go with the Penguins. Besides the sparkling record under Sullivan since December, the Penguins come into this series knowing they beat the league's best regular-season team.

They did it without their usual No. 1 goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, and without huge scoring contributions in the second round from either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.

The Penguins will have home-ice advantage, and that matters.

With that said, it's hard not to want to pick the Lighting. They keep winning without Stamkos and Stralman, and they have shown themselves to be a tough road team (3-1). The Bolts have allowed only 19 goals in 10 postseason games so far. On Wednesday, Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times reported that Stralman practiced in full with the team for the first time since his injury. Of course, it was reported that Stralman practiced with the team in the last round too, and he never played.

If he can come back, though, it'll be a nice bonus for Tampa Bay.

Still, Pittsburgh is the hotter team. Tampa Bay's two previous playoff opponents, Detroit and the Islanders, were not at Washington and the Rangers' level.

Should the Penguins go with Marc-Andre Fleury in goal to start the series?

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No. The rule is, you stay with the hot goalie until they're not hot anymore. Until rookie Matt Murray has a bad outing, he deserves to keep the starting job—even as the games get bigger.

Fleury has not played at all in the postseason. Murray is in a good rhythm, and he's shown he can handle high-pressure moments to this point with multiple overtime appearances. He is 7-2 with a .935 saves percentage. Fleury had a great regular season, and, yes, it's arguably unfair that he's the backup right now even though he's healthy again.

But that's the rule: You stay with the hot hand in net. If Murray falters, the Penguins know they have a tested veteran ready to step in. It's win-win.

Can we really believe in the Blues?

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Hmm. You want to believe in the Blues, that this really is the year.

And yet, they still do frustrating things, such as blow a potential closeout game at home in the second round to Dallas and lose two potential closeout games to Chicago in the first round before pulling out a pulse-pounder in Game 7 at home.

But maybe that makes you want to believe even more: This is the year! They push it to the limit, but they still come through! They knocked off the defending Cup champs in the first round. They knocked off the Western Conference regular-season champions in the second round.

So, bring on the next victim.

The Blues make things so much easier on themselves with sound fundamentals. The defense rarely beats itself, and coach Ken Hitchcock gets his forwards to think as much about preventing goals as scoring them.

With that said, the statistics are not overwhelming. While the Blues' goal differential is a respectable plus-10 (44-34), they are allowing more shots on net (32.9) than they're getting (28.9).

As good as it might feel for Blues fans right now, there is much more to prove.

Who are some lesser-publicized names who could be wild-card factors for their teams this round?

Veteran center Matt Cullen has played great for the Penguins in the playoffs, but he hasn't gotten a lot of attention. He is a feel-good story, though—a 39-year-old turning back the clock. This is a guy who wasn't sure he even wanted to play another year last summer, but was convinced by a former general manager from Carolina, Jim Rutherford, to sign with Pittsburgh.

So far, Cullen has three goals and two assists in 11 games.

Keep an eye on 23-year-old Penguins forward Conor Sheary, too. He had just 10 points in 44 regular-season games but has two goals and five points in 11 playoff contests.

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Alex Killorn doesn't get a lot of ink with the Lightning, but he's got three goals and nine points in 10 playoff games so far. 

In the West, Jay Bouwmeester is not an unknown, but his play hasn't gotten enough praise so far with the Blues. He's a plus-five after 14 playoff games and is averaging more than 25 minutes of ice time a night. He's steady, skates well and has a calm presence with the puck.

For the Sharks, Joel Ward has been the kind of unheralded player who has made a big difference (seven points in 12 games, including a big goal in Game 7 Thursday night) since coming over from Washington in the off-season. He brings so much grit around the net and commands attention with his size (6'1", 226 lbs).

He's the kind of guy who matches up well against the Blues' bigger D-men.

Series predictions

Penguins vs. Lightning

Too many things are going right for Pittsburgh to think the Lightning will stop it. You have to believe Stamkos and (potentially) Stralman's absences will finally start to have an effect in a series like this.

Is Murray on a short leash? Maybe. Fleury did do the bulk of the work in the regular season and he's healthy again. It's tough to not have your normal starting job when you return, but Fleury is a team guy and he'll be ready if Murray does falter.

Prediction: Penguins in six.

Blues vs. Sharks

St. Louis has home-ice advantage and keeps proving to itself that it can beat top teams. It's taken out the defending Cup champion Blackhawks and regular-season Western Conference winners Dallas so far. The Sharks made their fans mighty nervous again in the second round, needing a seventh game to subdue Nashville.

But they showed the kind of dominant team they can be in Game 7. This should be a great series. Both teams get in hard on the forecheck and can really move the puck. The Blues just seem to have a little more depth, and that possible final game on home ice could loom large.

Prediction: Blues in seven.

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report.